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I have a Mac mini M1 running 14.7.8 that I would like to update to 15.7.1. The software update only offers updating to 26. How do I get the latest of the previous version, rather than the .0 of the current version?

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Grab macOS 15 from the App Store. Apple maintains a very nice KB on this with links which can be seen at

If you don't want the latest version that the App Store delivers when you request, there is also a command lint tool to list and fetch all the currently available installers from Apple directly.

softwareupdate --list-full-installers
Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Tahoe, Version: 26.0.1, Size: 16550558KiB, Build: 25A362, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Tahoe, Version: 26.0, Size: 16550645KiB, Build: 25A354, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.7.1, Size: 15286154KiB, Build: 24G231, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.7, Size: 15285579KiB, Build: 24G222, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.6.1, Size: 15290420KiB, Build: 24G90, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.6, Size: 15290929KiB, Build: 24G84, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.5, Size: 15283299KiB, Build: 24F74, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.4.1, Size: 15244333KiB, Build: 24E263, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.4, Size: 15243957KiB, Build: 24E248, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.3.2, Size: 14890483KiB, Build: 24D81, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.3.1, Size: 14891477KiB, Build: 24D70, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.8.1, Size: 13335823KiB, Build: 23J30, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.8, Size: 13336105KiB, Build: 23J21, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.7.8, Size: 13331301KiB, Build: 23H730, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.7.7, Size: 13331787KiB, Build: 23H723, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.7.6, Size: 13338327KiB, Build: 23H626, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.7.5, Size: 13337289KiB, Build: 23H527, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Sonoma, Version: 14.7.4, Size: 13332546KiB, Build: 23H420, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Ventura, Version: 13.7.8, Size: 11919053KiB, Build: 22H730, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Ventura, Version: 13.7.7, Size: 11918886KiB, Build: 22H722, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Ventura, Version: 13.7.6, Size: 11910780KiB, Build: 22H625, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Ventura, Version: 13.7.5, Size: 11916960KiB, Build: 22H527, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Ventura, Version: 13.7.4, Size: 11915317KiB, Build: 22H420, Deferred: NO
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.7.4, Size: 12117810KiB, Build: 21H1123, Deferred: NO

If you had a reason to need 15.6.1 you could request that instead of the latest macOS Sequoia, Version: 15.7.1

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.6.1

In the end, you get the same signed installer from Apple CDN whether you use the App Store or the softwareupdate tool.

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  • is there any advantage of grabbing it through the AppStore over downloading an Install Assistant pkg, like this: mrmacintosh.com/… Commented yesterday
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    I would say never to take a link from a third party. Mr Macontosh is amazing, trustworthy, responsive, but I would recommend using the edited post with details on software update command line if you don't want to just let the App Store get you the installer. If you just couldn't get what you needed direct from Apple, I would use Mr Macintosh above any other resource. Commented yesterday
  • The advantage of using App Store or software update is they will use a local caching server if you set one up. The links from Mr. Macintosh are served from Apple but come as one off downloads from Apple - not from the CDN caches which sometimes are far faster based on where you are in the world or if you have one set up on your network. Commented yesterday
  • @bmike Having the full URL is not the proper way to handle links for accessibility. A screenreader will read the entire link. I offer a compromise: how about adding "KB" and the number before the title of the document, so that it can still be searched but won't detract from users with screenreaders? Commented 21 hours ago
  • Let’s talk on meta so everyone can weigh in and you can explain what specifically you mean by accessibility. Having plain text seems the most accessible way to refer to a link. Anything you care to add should be added as extra, not hiding the text away from the search field so people could access each post that links to a specific link. Commented 13 hours ago

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